It's Life Strategy Not Just Career Strategy

Over the years I have always had this theory that a successful career strategy and plan was really part of a larger life plan. How could you plan and execute upon your career without defining what you want out of life and what drives true happiness?  My recent experience working with friends and colleagues confirms the hypothesis that when you help people think deep about their careers they quickly expand to examining the most intimate parts of their life. This deep introspection is the foundation for establishing a great career strategy that "blends" with the other important aspects of your life.

Recently I had a check-in session with person that I have been helping to define a career plan using the career strategy framework outlined on InfoTechLeader.com. Initial comments were "James this is hard".  The self assessment of Step 1 was clearly driving all types of emotions and personal introspection. While this was a career planning session the conversation morphed into what this person was learning about themselves, the issues in their life, and the relationships with friends, family members, and a significant other. The career planning process was acting as a catalyst to understand life's purpose and define success as an individual and with their most important relationships.  We were clearly connecting more on life than just career.

My experience is that many folks conduct assessments but really never take the reflection time to understand their meaning and take action. Feedback from others also confirmed that the work to understand who you are and define what you stand for is the hardest part of career planning.

Companies should expand their career planning frameworks to include the realities of life and provide methods to help ensure alignment with employees careers.  Effective career plans that maximize happiness start with defining your personal profile including mission and critical success factors (more on Mojo post). In an upcoming post I will outline how you can use your critical success factors to create a Personal Scorecard for driving and sustaining change.